Pakistan packages relief for textile sector

Pakistan’s Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) provided relief for its struggling textile sector with a package allowing a 7.5 percent duty drawback on total imports of PTA used in making polyester fabric. The ECC also is considering a comprehensive package for the Gwadar Export Processing Zone (GEPZ), including a 10-year tax holiday, incentives to investors establishing projects in the zone and a zero sales tax on supply of construction materials for investors building in the GEPZ. In addition, products from the GEPZ would be exempt from stamp duty and import policy orders occasionally issued by the government. Foreign investment in Pakistan has increased 72 percent in the first two months of 2008, to an estimated $645 million.